Sunday, January 20, 2013

Well that sucked...

My First 30 Days of 2013 were more "utter failure" than the "zen yoga master eating clean and peacefully" that I'd intended.  For the first two weeks (yes WEEKS), I was suffering from what ended up being a nasty case of bronchitis. I've honestly never been so sick before.  The benefit was that I wasn't really eating much at all, so it was easy to stay paleo. And I did yoga every day for those first two weeks, even on my bronchitis death bed!  But it all went to hell in a hand basket when I headed off to San Diego and Las Vegas last week for work.  I was feeling much better, but my schedule was nuts.  So I ended up skipping out on a few yoga workouts and my eating went completely into the crapper.

So now I'm back, I'm fully healthy, I have a three day weekend, and I'm making use of the extra time to prep a whole bunch of stuff for the coming week so I have no excuses.  I'm on the road again for work but it's just two day trips.  My crockpot is going to be working overtime this week, but that's a good thing.  Here's the menu.  Stuff in bold is what I prepped ahead of time.

Breakfast for the week will be egg sandwiches on paleo biscuits (from a mix made by White Lion Baking Co.) with pork breakfast sausages.

Monday

Lunch - Potato, leek, and coconut soup.  I've come around to the relatively new belief in the paleo world that regular white potatoes can be paleo if eaten in moderation.  Hate on that if you'd like.  This soup is tasty.  The Kennebec potatoes and leeks that are in it are from our winter CSA share.

Dinner - Slow-cooker pulled pork with coffee rub.  I couldn't find a responsibly raised pork shoulder, so I just trimmed off all the fat I could and loaded it up with my own coffee rub recipe.  Tomorrow, I'll add a couple cups of beef broth and turn on the crockpot on low for 8 - 10 hours.  Yummers.

Tuesday

Lunch - Leftover pork.  (There will probably be lots of leftover pork and I'll freeze a bunch of it for a dinner down the road.)

Dinner - Chicken curry with spinach.  This is such an easy weeknight dinner that it requires little prepping.  The spinach is from our CSA and is ALWAYS gritty no matter how many times I wash, so I'm doing multiple wash and dries of the leaves.  Other than that, this dish consists of diced chicken, sliced carrots, and a bag of frozen sliced peppers plus coconut milk and some red curry paste. 

Wednesday

Lunch - Eating on the road in NYC (so probably Chipotle)

Dinner - Chocolate Chili.  I make this chili in the crockpot so that the flavors meld together all day long.  I also double the tomatoes and leave out the water.  To prep, I browned the meat today and put it in a freezer back with all the spices, onion, garlic, and tomato paste.  That went into the freezer and I'll pull it out on Tuesday night to thaw, add it to the crock with the other ingredients and then put it on to cook on Wednesday morning.  I have some frozen kale that I might saute and add on top.

Thursday

Lunch - leftover chili

Dinner - Broiled salmon and sauteed frozen spinach. 

Friday

Lunch - Back in NYC again (yup, Chipotle)

Dinner - Slow-cooked meatballs and sauce with sweet potato gnocchi.  I made the meatballs today, froze them on a cookie sheet, and then put them all in a freezer bag when they were fully frozen.  It's a simple recipe of ground pork and beef, diced onion, garlic, oregano, salt, pepper, and an egg and some almond meal to bind.  The sauce is store bought but was the one brand with no sugar in the ingredients.  I'll just throw two jars of it in the crock with the pre-rolled frozen meatballs and set it on low for 6-8 hours.  The gnocchi were something new for me and saying they were a bitch to make is an understatement.  I based things on this recipe, but I think if I do it again, I'll make sure to salt and mash the potatoes immediately after cooking and omit the egg.  This dough was just WAY too watery.  I used a ridiculous amount of coconut flour to keep things less sticky and they still look malformed.

Mutant sweet potato gnocchi

These are all in the freezer, laid out on cookie trays to freeze individually.  Tomorrow morning, I will transfer them to two separate freezer bags.  I have enough to feed a small army...or us, for two meals.

I'm planning on restarting my 30-day yoga challenge, but also hope to get in some gym workouts.  On the days I'm at the gym, I pledge to do 10-20 sun salutations for my yoga requirement.

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